Same code works in main, but not when calling from a function in C
Okay so I'm a beginner programmer so any tips on any part of the code are greatly appreciated,
but the main question is why does the code in function int longestSequence(int n,int array[n]);
work when placed in main, but not when called from the function?
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <limits.h>
int longestSequence(int n,int array[n]);
int main()
{
int n;
scanf("%d", &n);
int mat[n][n];
for(int i = 0; i<n; i++){
for(int j = 0; j<n; j++){
scanf("%d", &mat[i][j]);
}
}
int arraySize = n*n;
int array[arraySize];
int arrayIndex = 0;
for(int i=0; i<n; i++){
if(i%2 == 0){
for(int j = 0; j<n; j++){
array[arrayIndex++] = mat[i][j];
}
}else{
for(int j = n-1; j>=0; j--){
array[arrayIndex++] = mat[i][j];
}
}
}
/// Here's the same code that works when in main
// int numOfSequental = 0;
// int maxNumOfSequental = INT_MIN;
// for(int i = 0; i<n; i++){
// if(niz[i] == (niz[i+1]-1)){
// numOfSequental++;
// if(numOfSequental>maxNumOfSequental){
// maxNumOfSequental = numOfSequental;
// }
// continue;
// }
// numOfSequental = 0;
// }
//calling the function in printf
printf("Length of the sequence: %d", longestSequence(arraySize, array[arraySize]));
return 0;
}
int longestSequence(int n,int array[n])
{
int numOfSequental = 0;
int maxNumOfSequental = INT_MIN;
for(int i = 0; i<n; i++){
if(array[i] == (array[i+1]-1)){
numOfSequental++;
if(numOfSequental>maxNumOfSequental){
maxNumOfSequental = numOfSequental;
}
continue;
}
numOfSequental = 0;
}
return maxNumOfSequental+1;
}
Solution 1:
"the main question is why does the code in function
int longestSequence(int n,int array[n]);
work when placed in main, but not when called from the function?"
As called it should not work in either place.
printf("Length of the sequence: %d", longestSequence(arraySize, array[arraySize]));
// ^^^^^^^^^^^
return 0;
Note first that the index passed: arraySize
is one beyond the legal index for array
. In C, indexing is zero based, and so it goes from 0
- arraySize - 1
More importantly though the 2nd argument of longestSequence
should be a pointer to the array, not an indexed element of the array.
printf("Length of the sequence: %d", longestSequence(arraySize, array));
return 0;
Also, in general, to compare subsequent numbers in an array with size n
, the range of comparisons should be limited to:
a[i] == a[i+1] //for i == 0 through i == n-1
Change:
for(int i = 0; i<n; i++){
// ^^^
if(array[i] == (array[i+1]-1)){//array out of bounds when i == n
// ^^^
To
for(int i = 0; i<n-1; i++){
// ^^^^^
if(array[i] == (array[i+1]-1)){//i will never reach n
EDIT:
One last thing addresses comment about replacing calls to scanf()
with using the 2nd argument of main. First to do that the code must include the prototype of main: int main(int argc, char *argv[]);
. With this prototype, the program as called from the command line can now include command line arguments, eg: if running from CMD prompt in Windows:
C:\dev> myProg.exe 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Inside your program then arguments of argc
and argv[]` are populated as follows:
argc == 11 //total number of arguments
argv[0] == "myProg.exe" //program name is alway in argv[0]
argv[1] == "3"
argv[2] == "1"
...
argv[10] == "9"
Which should translate to creating a 3x3 array populated with the 9 subsequent values.
So the first statements in your code could now be: (in psuedo code)
int n = atoi(argv[1]);//check value of n before using
int array[n][n];
int index = 2;
for(int i = 0; i<n ; i++)
for(int j = 0; j<n ; j++)
array[i][j] = atoi(argv[index]);
index++;